Goodbye Mongolia

Well, this will be our final post while here. We are in the Capital city Ulaanbaatar until Friday when we fly out. We are being processed out of immigration and the mission.

The Director, Teachers and Staff at Sun Child School, where we were teaching English, made beautiful Mongolia traditional Dells for us and then took us to a photo studio for a portrait. What an honor to be presented this wonderful gift. They also presented us with a beautiful painting on cowhide and other gifts.

The photographer made us pose in traditional Mongolian style. Our hands and stature were modeled. Usually the men don't smile like I am.

Debbie and I were handling all of this pretty well until Monday evening as we were loading our bags on the mission vehicle. Debbie and I were in the apartment doing some final packing and cleaning when we received a call that some of the teachers were outside to see us. When we went down all the Sun Child kids and Staff were there. They gave us multiple hugs and thanks and then sang to us. (See our Facebook for the video). That's when the tears really came!!! They gave each of us a bouquet of flowers and more hugs. We will miss them terribly!!!!

 

To add to all this a number of members from the Old and New Darkhan Branches showed up to wish us farewell and present gifts.

This has been an amazing adventure and a truly overwhelming spiritual experience. We will have great memories that will last the rest of our lives. We have fallen in love with this country and the people. How we will miss all the wonderful friends we have made.

It has been an honor to serve a full time mission and to share the gospel of Jesus Christ. The gospel changes lives. We have seen it over and over. Missions are wonderful!

Our Final English Lessons and More!

We taught our final English classes last week.

On Saturday we hosted a Sloppy Joe Dinner for all the Sun Child children and staff. They loved them. We also served juice for all and ice cream bars for dessert.

 They helped make the dough and bake the buns. Even the young boys can make expert rolls and buns!

They chopped lots of cabbage for Cole Slaw. Here in Mongolia, the only knife used is the cleaver, for the most part. They cut like a pro and are they fast!!

The children also assisted in cooking the meat, onions, etc., and adding all of the spices.  They had never heard of Sloppy Joe's before this event. The only spice that Mongolians use is salt!!

At the end of dinner the Director, Staff and Kids sang a surprise Happy Birthday to me, and presented me with this large, beautiful hand-cut silhouette using an X-acto knife!! The fine work and minute details are amazing! This is Muugii, our wonderful interpreter. She has worked so hard for us and helped us accomplished so much more.


Today, Sunday, we went to Sun Child to get final pictures of all the kids and staff, since they are gone so much during the week with school and after-school activities. Sitting next to Debbie is the Director-Teacher. A few months ago she was awarded the "Top Mom" of all Mongolia. She has 40 children--she definitely deserves it! :) She is a dedicated, extraordinary person. We love this group!

When we return we are going to try to find a promoter, agency, school or organization to get them to tour the U.S. They have toured Japan each year for 14 years performing and making money to help support the orphanage. The last two years Disney Japan has hired them to perform in their big theater and they have sold out the performances. We hope to have a demo reel on YouTube soon for organizations to see some of their dances, songs, instrumentals and contortions.  They are amazing kids with an abundance of talent. The Director believes every child has talents they can learn and share.

The children are so loving and give us hugs whenever we see them. They have touched our lives. We will miss them terribly, but we have wonderful memories to last a lifetime!

We love and have missed all of our friends and family back in the States! We look forward to our return and seeing all of you. We have lots of experiences and memories to share.

Thanks for following our adventures.
Elder & Sister Fredley

You'll never guess what we had for dinner!

Before coming to Mongolia, we had watched a few on-line videos to learn more about the country. One video showed an international cuisine traveler experiencing how the Mongolians blow torch an entire sheep and literally cook it from the outside in. The crowning delicacy of the meal was feasting on the sheep's head which would include the tongue, the brains and the eye balls. The other night we walked into the apartment of the Baatumur family whom we home teach each month, and sitting on their coffee table was a sheep head!!

 

We've seen sheep heads torched before, but we've never been served one.  So seeing a sheep head in the middle of this table had us intrigued. After a sheep head is purchased, it is then taken home and boiled for 2 hours to make it tender. And it was! The wife, Otgontuya, seemed to have a system of how she would cut and serve this delicacy. Basically, the outer brown skin is peeled off and eaten. As you can see above, part of the skin had already been removed. We thought that the skin was very good but the best part was the upper part of the cheek. It all had a delicious smoked taste to it. Otgontuya then proceeded to remove all the meat on the outside.

 

 

The tongue was next. She just opened the mouth of the sheep wide and cut out the whole tongue and placed it on the platter and sliced it up. We both tried it and although it was a little chewy it still was good. It had a slight taste of beef liver.

 

 

The eyeballs take some work to cut out. Batumur put one whole eyeball in his mouth. The Cultures are so different, aren't they? Learning about the Mongolian culture has made our mission so fun and interesting! The other eyeball was cut up. Dan tried a small piece. It was chewy.

 

 

 

The brains were the fun part, because as Otgontuya would dig some of the brains out with the back end of a tablespoon, she would call one of the names of her young sons. They would run in and open their mouths and she would put a spoonful in. The boys would then joyfully run off to play again. It was so cute to watch them enjoy this unique dish!

By the end of the meal, which included boiled potatoes, onions and carrots, the head was picked clean.  Hmmm! Hmmm! Hmmmmm! Wish you were here. :)

 

A Joyful Evening!

Last Friday evening Brother Daasha was baptized. We met this family a few months after arriving in Mongolia. The whole family were members except the Dad. The family and many others have prayed and fasted for him that he would be baptized. He has been investigating the church for 7 years, then recently, one day he felt he needed to be baptized "now". He had one obstacle to overcome and that was to quit smoking. There is a commandment in the Church called the

Word of Wisdom which requires it's members to refrain from coffee and tea, alcohol and tobacco. Our bodies house our spirits and as we keep this commandment we are promised great blessings of health. Daash had tried to quit smoking many times and actually got down to a few cigarettes a day.

But it wasn't until he made the commitment to be baptized that the Lord helped him overcome smoking all together.  

Daasha looked so happy.  After he was baptized he bore a humble testimony of the gospel and how he had prayed for help.  

These are the Sister Missionaries that have been teaching him.

There are 7 children in the Daasha family, but one could not be there. The rest of the family each bore a sweet testimony and expressed how happy they were to see their dad baptized. The younger daughter told how happy she was that their family can all live with Heavenly Father again. The brother to the left of Daasha is President Daavka, the Branch President of Old Darkhan. 

We are grateful for the gospel of Jesus Christ on the earth that help us to become more Christlike. By following the Savior, we can have peace and happiness in our lives. Life has it's challenges, but as we keep the commandments, try to do what's right and love one another, we can have joy in the journey!

Ice Carvings Mongolian Style

The following pictures are from the exhibit in Ulaanbaatar.

They also had two ice slides, one for small kids and one larger. To see a video of the large one in action see our Facebook page.

THE PICTURES BELOW ARE IN DARKHAN

THIS IS OUR FAVORITE ONE!!!!

 

They are representative of the lunar months in Mongolia. On February 19th they will celebrate Sagaan Sar (White Moon), the beginning of a new year.  That will be the year of the Sheep.

This represents Ghenggis Khan and Queen. We love winter here. It is beautiful and white with many days of blue skies and sun. It is, of course, very cold and they say it's going to get worse in January, but we dress warm with many layers and it keeps us warm. We actually can't wait to get outside because when we are all bundled up getting ready to leave, we get so hot that we have to walk out the door asap! :)
The large theater where many plays and performances take place is in the background. The Christmas Tree and ice carvings are the gathering place for the New Year's celebration. There are Ger's set up with food and hot drinks, music events. At midnight this is where the city fireworks are displayed. We arrived about 11:15p after spending the evening with the Sun Child kids Christmas party and performance. It was -24 degrees and a strong breeze--too cold to hang around, SO we didn't stay for the fireworks. We watched from our window in our apartment building. :)

We hope all of you had a wonderful New Year's and that 2015 will bring many blessings to you and your families!!

 

 

Assembling a GER in -10 degrees F! Wish you were here!

This is a family we told you about earlier.  The father needed to get his taxi license renewed, but because he could not afford it, the fines grew. He would drive his taxi without a license so he could provide for his family, but was stopped several times by the police and ticketed. Some donors outside of Mongolia donated the money needed to pay the fees. When we got to the License Office they wanted to charge additional fines but the RS President negotiated and  the father got his license. He was so happy when we left the building.  His wife told us he cried when he got home. Funds were also donated to help with winter clothes for the kids.

The City has funding to help people buy Gers. They were given 1.2 million tugriks.  They found a used one for 450,000 tugs. The rest of the money was used to buy more insulation, stove, ger cover and other supplies needed to set up a home. They are required to show receipts for all purchases related to the home. It takes about 6 to 8 people to set up a ger. I had the privilege of helping put it together. Four of the missionaries helped, along with one of the Old Darkhan members, two neighbors and the Relief Society President. It was quite an experience and it was the coldest day of the season! It was COLD.  It took 6 hours, but it was just in time for our first major snow storm last evening! We got about 3 inches that will now be here until May.

As you can see they use a shovel and a big scraper to level the ground.

Then they start with lashing the lattice work together, called khana, for the walls.

Next the roof ring (looks like a wheel) and two pillars are tied together in what is now called the Toono. It is placed facing South to allow them to follow the Sun through the open hole in the roof.

One person holds the Toono in place while the poles, called Uni, are installed . At the end of each Uni is a small rope loop. It is twisted until it can fit tightly on the top of a wall rung to make it all stable.






Then multiple layers of felt or arkh are placed along the walls and secured with rope. Then the roof is covered with 3 to 4 layers of deever made of camel hair, yak hair or wool. In this case they added lightweight, modern insulation material, that looked like brown paper on one side and some kind of thick plastic material on the other side.

See the video on our Facebook page showing how they get the roof materials in place.

The outer white cover is shaped so that there are openings where the door and roof will be. The white cover must be arranged so that these are in the appropriate places and then stretched over the entire yurt so that there are not any creases visible. This white cover is made of water-proof material which hasn't been available until recently.



The outer straps, khoshlon, are then drawn around.  These straps are very important because it actually "strengthens" the entire ger! Two or three straps should be used at different heights in order to provide equally distributed stability.
Inside the ger they line the inner walls with rugs most of the time. Here they bought beautiful blue material to go all the way around the inside. The two new owners of the ger are on the left. That is Selengee and her husband, Tururtogoo.

The others are Elder Murat, Brother Nyamsuren, Elder Palmer, Sister Tsevelmaa RS President, and Elder Cannell. Elder Batsaikan missed out and I took the picture.

Children's Rehabilitation Center Open House

We worked with Deseret International Charities to acquire rehabilitation equipment.  The building and room they were originally in was too small for all the new items. The Director found a new location with two large rooms. One room for the children to learn and play in and the other room was for the rehab center.  We were invited to attend.  When we arrived the City Manager was there, the Director of Handicapped Children from the government's Social Services Division and many of the mothers with special needs kids some of which we met at the children's camp this summer. Erdene Chuluun, the Director Teacher from Sun Child School where we teach, also attended. They were told the Capital Ulaanbaatar does not have the facilities for special needs kids as this rehab offers.

 Altenchimeg, center, is a retired nurse and, now a licensed massage therapist, does all this volunteer work for these children.
Boya, on my right, is a member of the Church, attends school in Japan and interpreted for us this week. She is Mongolian and is fluent in English and Japanese. What a great job she did while our regular interpreter was out of town.

After a tour and describing all the equipment and how it is used, the City Manager promised to get funding for the teachers, to enlarge the building and hire additional staff to accommodate more  Darkhan special needs children.







 This is Meggie. We met her at camp this summer and helped give massage and physical therapy to her. She had a few seizures when younger. In Mongolia they do a spinal tap on each person with seizures. Many end up paralyzed or with other physical damage. Meggie was losing strength and capability on the left side. She could hardly squeeze our hand and her left leg was getting weak too. We taught her a number of muscle building exercises while at camp for the week and made her promise to do them every day, multiple times a day, at home. That evening she gripped our hand and showed us how she could stand on her left leg. This was the best part of the evening.









They surprised us with this plaque. Many kind words were offered. They even had the local TV station tape the event and interview us. Refreshments followed. The lady, between Debbie and I is a Doctor that volunteers her time to give the kids regular checkups and oversees some of their care.





 

We were so pleased to hear from the City Manager that they would be adding additional teachers. The classroom is definitely under staffed. It is physically demanding on the teachers.

We are so grateful for all those who came out to support these children. Many have worked so hard to try and help meet the needs of these precious kids. 

It was a wonderful evening!!